Internet of Things

In this summer’s blockbuster movie “Edge of Tomorrow,” a PR executive played by Tom Cruise goes through innumerable time loops to become a soldier by being reborn every time he is killed. In the context of software startups, successful products are built through repeated testing and improvement. Those that can do the most iterations without dying become the needle-movers.

The evolving Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem presents opportunities for startups that can create sustainable solutions. Further to our article, “Internet of Things Needle-Mover Opportunities,” we looked at companies that will form the basic foundation of technologies that address the following five IoT challenges:

Privacy and security

The power barrier

Data analytics and management

Interoperability and integration

Governance

The SandHill IoT 50 Needle Movers list below excludes established companies and focuses only on early-stage companies expected to play a very critical role in building the base of IoT in the future.

1. AdhereTech — Smart wireless pill bottles to improve adherence to medications using sensors, cellular technology and real time analytics. Designed for specialty medications and clinical trials where adherence is critical.

2. Airware — Platform for commercial UAVs (drones) built with NASA. Applications for the “drone economy” cited include precision agriculture, infrastructure inspection, open-air mining and humanitarian campaigns in addition to law enforcement.

4. Apprity — Stealth-mode startup focused on security for cloud-based applications from BYOD and IOT. Directly addresses vulnerability from a large number of access points using expertise in data science and security.

5. Arrayent — IoT platform to connect household consumer electronics to mobile devices. Also provides an enterprise solution that enables brand owners to connect with their products. Used by Whirlpool, Mattel and Maytag.

7. August — Encrypted lock technology for keyless entry that connects with existing physical infrastructure. Includes 24/7 management and virtual keys that can be distributed for use by mobile devices.

11. Building Robotics — Manages interaction between humans and their workspaces. Application called Comfy allows office workers to customize the temperature in their work area while reducing energy waste.

12. Econais — Embedded Wi-Fi systems solutions. High performance, ultra low power embeddable modules that are cloud ready. Focuses on minimizing time and cost in deployment.

20. Humavox — Charges devices without using wires. Uses a platform called ETERNA to create a virtual power cord to charge small devices. Reduces engineering design cycles for “things” by providing an electronic circuit that enables devices with Humavox charging technology.

21. IFTTT — Acronym for “If this then that.” A tool that helps end users make connections between apps and devices that they use every day. Potential to create an inventory of “recipes” for interaction between devices.

23. IMRSV — Perceptive computing solution based on emotion recognition and face detection software. Creates a large volume of data for real-time analytics. Competes with the traditional approach to audience analytics.

24. IntelliSense.io — Solution targeted for optimizing commercial and industrial systems. Showcased by the UK government for achieving success at large infrastructures.

26. Isorg — Organic printed electronics components that can be integrated into paper, plastic and fabric. Potential to add “smart” capabilities to objects such as chairs and tables. Applications include security, life sciences and buildings.

27. Jasper Technologies — Platform to launch, manage and monetize IoT services. Customers include ABB, Vivint and Garmin. Partners include VMware. Candidate to be one of the first IPOs in the IoT space.

28. Kaazing — High-performance Web communication platform. Has potential to be a key player in the living Web ecosystem that enables future uses of real-time and dynamic collaboration.

36. ParStream — Analytics platform designed to scale to the volume of data used by the IoT. Customers include Siemens, MPREIS (Australia) and Searchmetrics.

37. Peel — Smart home control using mobile devices. Metrics cited by the company are 90 million activated users in 200 countries and five billion monthly remote commands.

38. Pinnocio — Mesh networking for the IoT. Facilitates rapid prototyping of use cases by creating an end-to-end solution using tiny microcontrollers combined with a Web app.

39. PowerTags — Intelligent building solution for commercial facilities that includes monitoring and management of assets, workforce and energy. Use cases range from elderly care to smart buildings and industrial facilities.

40. PrismTech — Intelligent data-sharing platform for the IoT with support for real-time situational awareness, control and interoperability. Customers include Atlas Copco, NASA and Northrup Grumman.

44. Revolv — Unified smart home solution that connects a very large variety of devices such as Nest thermostats, Philips Hue lights and Kwikset locks. Monitoring and control system controls all devices from a single hub.

46. Sigfox — Global cellular network for IOT devices. Optimized for IOT requirements such as low throughput communication and extremely low power consumption deployed on a very large scale and a small carbon footprint. Wide range of applications including agriculture, healthcare and manufacturing.

47. TempoIQ — Platform for analyzing sensor data designed for the scale required for the IoT. Handles capture, storage, monitoring and analytics.

49. UniKey Technologies — “Touch-to-open” smart lock platform with electronic keys managed by mobile applications or in the cloud. OEM partner for market leaders Kwikset and Weiser under the brand name Kevo. Company reports having opened and closed smart locks tens of millions of times in over 65 countries around the world to date.

50. Withings — Quantified-self company offering a range of smart devices around health. Received six awards for design and engineering in the last four years.

Shirish Netke is president and CEO of Amberoon Inc., a provider of data-driven business perspective solutions. He has led companies in the area of software, services and electronic entertainment. He was one of the first evangelists for Java when it was launched by Sun Microsystems and has been quoted as an industry thought leader in the New York Times, Investors Business Daily, Chief Executive Magazine and Asia Times. Follow him on Twitter.

M.R. Rangaswami is co-founder and CEO of Sand Hill Group and publisher of SandHill.com.